


Turn The Page

by ShadowNekoinaTardis



Series: Tumblr Prompts [6]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, But the other doesn't know, Cuddles, Fluff, M/M, Martin typical pining, Mutual Pining, Panic Attack, Sickfic, Slow Burn, Tumblr Prompt, no not!sasha, s2 divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 06:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18911422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowNekoinaTardis/pseuds/ShadowNekoinaTardis
Summary: “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”Tim blushed, “Yes.”“You could ask him, you know? It wouldn’t hurt.”He looked at her deadpan.“Ah. I see.”





	Turn The Page

**Author's Note:**

> Gah, Reagan, this is probably going to be very one sided, I know you specified TimMartin, but… angst and pining is fun. Ironic. (title is from a song by Bobby V. of the same name). References to this page: [Tim Sickfic hc](https://mike-vast-crew.tumblr.com/post/184401393788/sick-tim-hc)

Tim hadn’t meant to be watching Martin when he did his morning tea rounds, he always took longer at Jon’s desk. He sighed before going back to looking at some research for a case he’d been handed a couple of days ago. Something about spiders and burnt books. He didn’t find it as interesting as reading something about Smirke. He tried to focus on the statement he was reading rather than acknowledging that Martin had put down the cup of camomile tea for him.  
“Thank you.” he muttered.  
“What was that?” Martin asked.  
“Nothing.”  
“Oh.”  
He listened as Martin’s footsteps disappeared into the archives.  
He breathed in. This was fine, he could deal with it later, after his workout at the gym. He looked back at the statement before taking a sip of the tea: perfect as always. He smiled a little, the honey was sweet like him and bright like his smile. He took a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing to read the account about how the book had caused the house to nearly be burnt down if the owner had not managed to put the fire out.  
He made some notes on his pad to go do some research on similar situations about the book. It hadn’t been mentioned that it was a Leitner, but Tim suspected that it might be, even though _Jon_ hadn’t noted it. He got up and went towards the library to go sift for some other statements that had similar situations. He tried not to focus on the fact that he could hear Martin talking to Jon about one of the statements he was working on at the moment.  
He tried not to look at them because that would just make him more agitated than he already was with the situation, it’s not like he could just _tell_ Elias. That would result in more harm than help at this point and his boss probably already knew about it. Reverse company gossip, was what it should be called.  
He sat down in a corner and put down the books he’d pulled out. The tears on his face were warm and salty. He hadn’t even noticed that he was crying. It would be a _great_ time for Martin to find him. He curled into himself, and tried to breathe. He was fine. In, out, repeat. He counted under his breath before looking up to see Sasha. Even better.  
He breathed in before relaxing his knees.  
“Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine,” he muttered, grabbing the few books he’d gotten.  
“You don’t look fine,” she responded, extending her hand out to him, “need some help getting up?”  
“I guess,” he breathed in shakily before grasping her hand. “Don’t tell him.”  
“Don’t tell who?” Sasha asked, before looking at where Tim was looking. “Oh.”  
They took a couple of steps towards his desk.  
“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”  
Tim blushed, “Yes.”  
“You could ask him, you know? It wouldn’t hurt.”  
He looked at her deadpan.  
“Ah. I see.”  
**...**  
A couple of days later Tim had started sneezing in the archives, this had caused Jon to pull him aside and Tim had to collect himself before he turned to face him.  
“If you’re going to keeping on sneezing like that shut the door. I’m trying to record and it’s complicated to filter out those sneezes.”  
Tim stood his ground. “It’s not like I can help it, but I’ll try and remember too.”  
He could hear Jon huff as he turned around to go back to his desk. He didn’t mean to come off snipey but it was hard when Jon didn’t even notice that Martin definitely had a crush on the man. Breathe in, out. He was fine. He stepped outside to collect himself for a moment.  
He felt Sasha looking when he came back in but she knew what was going on. So he paused before he went back to his desk and went to the small kitchen to make some tea to help sooth his sore throat. He wasn’t expecting to see Martin in there.  
“Hey, do you need anything?” Martin asked, looking into Tim’s eyes.  
“Uh…” he coughed, “Yeah, something to help?”  
“Allergies?”  
“Yeah.” He tried to sound distracted, before blowing his nose into a handkerchief.  
He looked down at the scribbled handwriting on his wrist rather than watching Martin make his camomile tea with a spoonful of honey. He didn’t need to fuel his imagination more than he already had.  
“Heard it’ll be good weather for outside jogging soon.” Martin said, trying to start a conversation.  
“Yeah, if my allergies clear up a bit, it just might be.”  
He looked down at the note: _‘just ask him out’_ , and shook his head when Martin wasn’t looking. It would do more harm than good at this point.  
“Have you tried…”  
“Tried what, Martin?”  
“Oh I don’t know! Going to a gym for once?”  
He was taken aback, genuinely. He breathed in and coughed.  
“Honestly Martin, I don’t have as much time as I would need to go to my gym right now.”  
He began coughing so hard that he teared up.  
“You should really go home and sleep.”  
“It’s just allergies.”  
“What if it’s not? Have you ever thought of that Tim?”  
He took the steaming cup from Martin, “Fine, I’ll go ask Elias, but if you wonder why that report isn’t done remember you’re the one who said it.” he paused, “I’m sorry that came off wrong.”  
He turned before he could hear Martin’s, “it’s not your fault.”  
Tim took his time sipping the tea before entering Elias’s office so that he would appear semi-normal and not like he’d just messed up his chance at maybe ever taking Martin on a date. He opened the door slowly.  
“Yes Tim?”  
“Sorry to bother you but–” he broke out in a round of thick, wet coughs, “I’m sorry, it seems I’ve caught something and was wondering–”  
“Yes you can take the rest of the day off, just remember to get that document done.”  
“Yes Sir.”  
He shut the door behind him, but didn’t miss the comment of, “I know about you and him,” being said.  
He hissed out in pain as he walked to put the tea cup back up, he looked down to see a blood stain on his lower abdomen; he looked around checking for anyone before putting down the finished cup. He couldn’t of been poisoned, Martin wasn’t that type of guy. He pulled up his shirt to see a small cut, he pulled out the meger med kit from the cabinet and shut the door.  
He thought the stitches on his side had finished healing but apparently not.  
He took out some antiseptic, gauze, and tape before getting to work on cleaning it. Getting injured at work wasn’t new perse but he knew this one was most likely caused by Elias for the factor of causing a slow down in work, but that was highly plausible. He sighed and placed the gauze over the cut before taping it, and pulling the shirt back over.  
It was at that point that the door to the “kitchenette” opened and Martin entered.  
“Tim?” Martin sounded concerned.  
“I’m alright it’s just a flesh wound,” he said, cough imminent and he didn’t have time, “I’ll be leaving now.”  
Martin moved aside, “Are you sure you’ll be fine?”  
“I’m sure. It’s not like I’m going to pass out on the tube. You know where I live anyway… you could just check up on me after work if it was really bothering you.”  
“You’d–you’d be okay with that?”  
“Sure, why not.” Tim says, in a sincere tone but by the way Martin winces he must’ve said it wrong. “Sorry, think about it.”  
He slid out the door before he could mess it up more.  
…  
The tube ride home was slow and almost painful. He got looks from a concerned mother and he pulled at the side that had blood. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t keep spare shirts at work. He tried to distract himself by looking at his phone expecting a text from Martin but the message number stayed at zero.  
He fell asleep around three and woke up to someone knocking at his door, he looked at the clock: 6:03pm. He sighed and stretched before heading to his door. He looked down at his phone to find a few texts from Martin:  
4:06pm: +I’m bringing tea and some soup.  
5:10pm: +I’ll be over around 6pm if that’s okay?  
5:20pm: +Tim?  
5:30pm: +I guess you’re asleep.  
5:55pm: +almost here.  
_‘Ah, so that’s what would be going down tonight.’_  
He opened the door slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and blearily.  
“Hey,” his voice was laden with sleep and he coughed a little, “Sorry, I just got your texts.”  
He could see Martin’s cheeks flush a bit.  
“Come in,” he opened the door further, taking the thermos of soup from Martin’s hands, “Make yourself comfortable.”  
He gestured towards the small living room and kitchen, before going back into his bedroom to get a shirt, since the current one had been soaked. He tried to wait until he was out of sight to pull off the shirt, but…  
“Tim?” Martin asked, footsteps coming closer, “where’s your…? Oh! Sorry.”  
He turned around to see Martin blushing.  
“I’ll try another cabinet!” and the door got shut in his face.  
Fuck. He’d messed up.  
He didn’t even notice that he’d hit the floor until he was back to conscious again and a worrying Martin was towering above him.  
“Tim?”  
A muttered “fuck” slipped out.  
“Tim are you alright?”  
“No, it seems I’m not ‘alright’.” Tim muttered.  
“Do you need help getting up?”  
“Yeah, but can you hand me that shirt first?”  
“...uh huh,” Martin said, handing him the shirt before turning around to give him a little privacy, “So, uh, you might have a fever?” Martin said.  
He shrugged, “maybe.”  
He took Martin’s hand and was tugged off the ground.  
“Let me check your temperature before you have any tea.”  
Tim almost whined painfully, but only ended up coughing up some mucus. “Sorry.”  
“It’s fine, I’m used to worse.”  
Tim frowned, but didn’t press it.  
Martin helped him get back to the couch before going to search for a thermometer.  
“There should be one in the med kit in the far right cabinet.” Tim said.  
“Okay.”  
He could hear the cabinet open and a few clanks before a familiar metal sound echoed on his countertop. He listened as Martin’s footsteps became louder as he approached. He heard the thermometer chirp.  
“Open.”  
“Ah.”  
The metal was cold as he held it under his tongue, it beeped and Martin pulled it out.  
“37.3c, yeah you’re running a fever Tim,” Martin said while cleaning the metal with an alcohol swab, “you want to tell me about this?”  
Martin pointed to the wrapped cut on his abdomen.  
“I… it was an accident,” Tim’s voice dripped with hesitation, “I think it was leftover after the worms?”  
He’s not sure of his own voice at this point.  
Martin’s eyes soften, and he almost comes in to hug him but pauses.  
“I never… I never noticed.”  
“You had other things to be worried about Martin. You got locked in your own house because of her! You have every right to not notice because you were worried about other things at the time,” Tim said, looking up, “Shit. Don’t cry please.”  
Martin cleared the few stray tears off his face, and Tim reached over to push the blond’s hair out of his eyes, sea green and never ending. He paused.  
“Martin…?”  
Tim couldn’t look away, Martin’s eyes were mesmerizing.  
“Tim… what are you doing?”  
“I… don’t know. Martin you…” Tim paused, pulling away to cough, “you’re really cute you know that?”  
“Tim, you’re sick, you aren’t thinking clearly.”  
“Bullshit Martin.”  
“Hush, you need a nap.”  
Martin unfolded the blanket hanging over the back of the couch before helping Tim onto it. Tim could see something silver in the corner, not quite glitter but… it couldn’t be a spider web.  
…  
He woke up a couple of hours later, the sun had almost set and the last pink rays were fading as he coughed into a tissue. He could barely hear out of his left ear which is why he jumped off the couch when Martin touched his shoulder.  
“Sorry! I didn’t hear you coming.” Tim murmured.  
Martin nodded, tired, “Want some tea?”  
“Sure,” he coughed, “something with honey, please?”  
He barely noticed that Martin smiled a little as he walked away. He tried to get his thoughts in order before trying to stand and proceeded to nearly fall onto the floor because the blanket had tangled between his legs. He muttered a few curses but he didn’t want to have Martin rush in when it wasn’t necessary.  
“Tim, you really shouldn’t be up right now.”  
Tim shook his head and walked slowly to the restroom, he was fine, just needed to pee and wash his face. He could barely hear Martin set the tea cup down on the small coffee table before he walked back to the bedroom. Had even told Martin that he could borrow his bedroom or had he simply forgotten? Was his bedroom even clean or had he not put his dirty clothes in the basket yet?  
He sighed, _whelp this was great._ He was going to embarrass himself in front of Martin and probably never live it down.  
So he got up and moved towards the bedroom.  
“Tim… dear, what are you doing?” Martin asked.  
“I love you.” he muttered.  
“I didn’t hear you.” Martin cocked his head.  
“Fuck you.” he said, a little louder.  
“Mmm… maybe later,” Martin said, before blinking and processing what he’d said. “Ah, shit, you didn’t hear that.”  
“But, I did. Martin do you have something you want to say?”  
The blond blushed. “No, not at this hour Timothy.”  
“You want to flirt and then retract the statement, and it’s not like I didn’t think I was pining after you for nothing. You can act like you haven’t _noticed_ but I know you’re lying, I’ve sat in the same desk for the past six months watching you pine after him when he doesn’t even acknowledge your presence other than to tell you to get out of his office so he can record a statement.”  
“I… I… Tim, you…”  
“And I know I can’t really have the clearest thoughts right now but I have a point in all of this mess and it’s that I wanted to ask you out and I may have just lost my chance.”  
He breathed in slowly. “I’ll go now.”  
“Tim…” Martin paused, “But Tim, I did notice. I noticed all the small notes left in the kitchenette. I heard the poetry you thought no one heard, some of which was rather good. I saw that drawing you said was, “utter trash”, and honestly Timothy what else do you want me to say? I know Jon’s an oblivious idiot but he can’t remember to even eat lunch half the time.”  
He sat flustered on the floor of his flat trying to process everything that had been said and he was still managing to draw a blank. He tried to breath in slowly and got up and walked away, hands shaking. What had he done? He couldn’t focus and he knew he’d ended back on the couch because Martin had caught him before he’d fallen again.  
“Hey, hey, relax. Breathe Tim.”  
He tried to smile and relax, “Your eyes are rather pretty,” right before another round of a coughing fit hit in.  
He missed Martin’s smile as he reached over for the box of tissues. Tim held the tissues as he coughed up more mucus. He could feel Martin holding his back, fingers running slowly down his spine.  
“Breathe Tim.” Martin whispered in his ear.  
Tim tried to breathe in slowly, feeling his chest clench in pain as he did. It was relaxing feeling Martin’s hands holding him.  
“How about I help you back to the bed?”  
“Mmmm… sure.” he yawned, reaching back for Martin’s hand so he could get back up.  
Martin helped him off the couch and they began walking towards Tim’s bed.  
“Sorry about earlier and the mess.”  
“It’s fine. You’re sick.”  
“Not that. The shirt incident…”  
Martin blushed, “Oh that! Is it alright if I asked when you…”  
“College. Wasn’t drunk or anything just wanted to get them. Another questions?”  
“Did it.. Hurt?”  
“A little. Wasn’t like my helix piercing though. Worse than that.”  
Martin nodded before pulling the sheets back. “In you go.”  
Tim held on to Martin’s hand, “Cuddle with me, please?”  
“Mmm… sure. I called off for both of us tomorrow.”  
Tim groaned.  
“You need sleep.”  
He rolled his eyes before getting comfy in the sheets and pulled Martin in after him.  
...  
He barely woken up in the morning to a twisted pile of limbs to hear Martin wake up beside him. He yawned and tried to stretch out and barely managed not to kick Martin in the process.  
“Morning Martin.”  
“Morning Tim,” Martin yawned, “I’m going to make breakfast.”  
“Okay, I’m probably gonna go back to sleep.”  
Martin nodded, and Tim could feel Martin leave the bed before he rolled back into the pillows. He could smell eggs from his bed when he woke up a few minutes later to a cup clattering on the floor. He tried to get up from his bed but the sheets only managed to make him fall onto the floor.  
“Martin are you okay?” he asked when he finally made it into the kitchen.  
“I spilled your tea.”  
“It’s fine. I can clean it up.”  
Martin paused, “but I…”  
“Just make sure the rest of the eggs don’t burn. I don’t mind.”  
Martin nodded and handed Tim the towel in his hand.  
“Jon called while you were asleep.”  
“Oh?”  
“He says he’s got everything under control.”  
“Good.”  
...  
“Just kiss me already!”  
Tim blinked, slightly blindsided by the statement. Well he wasn’t really, but having heard it from Martin directly it kind of made him wake up more than he was already.  
He moved quickly and captured Martin’s lips in a chaste kiss. It was cut short as he pulled away to sneeze and Martin laughed joyously.  
The lights went out and Tim nearly collapsed into Martin’s lap.  
“I thought they were done with the rewiring…” he muttered before going in for another kiss.  
**~Fin**


End file.
